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​​​​​​​​Multiple Meaning Words



INSTRUCTIONS:
  • Write the word in bold. Write it in its proper place according to alphebetical order. Add your name in brackets after the word.
  • Write the definitions of the word.
  • Follow each definition with a sentence using the word. Make sure the sentence demonstrates its meaning. Undeline the word in each sentence.
  • You may add more definitions (followed by a sentence) for words already used. Write your name in brackets after the definition(s) you have added. (Additional definitions do not count towards the 5-word minimum.)
  • Avoid discussions, comments, questions, critique on this page. Start a discussion in the discussion page.

Mrs J


A.

act
(Mrs J)
  • to perform as an actor (verb)
    • All the actors in this play act very badly,
  • a section or part of a play (noun)
    • The last act of Romeo and Juliet is very moving.
  • to operate or perform a duty (verb)
    • Mrs Koh will act as principle in my absence.
  • a pretense or false show (noun/verb)
    • Don't try to act so innocent when you are at fault.
    • She seemed very concerned but it was all an act.----


angle
(Zhi Rui)

  • The way you see things, your perspectives
    • To make an informed decision, you have to look from all the angles.
  • Geometric angles
    • A square has four ninety degree angles.


B.

base
(Geng Leong)



  • base target
    • Tom did not meet the base production target and was fired
  • a camp or area in where something expands from
    • The Germans expanded from their army base and killed the civilians.
(Zhi Rui)
  • To use something as a sample or template
    • She based her speech on the one she found on the Internet
  • The physical bottom of something
    • The base of the box was strong and solid.

bank
(Shivanand)

  • the land alongside a river or a lake
    • I was fishing on the river bank
  • an organisation that makes loans and keeps customers' money for them
    • I put my money in that bank
bear
(Mandy)
  • Have in one's mind (verb)
    • After what happened last week, Jamie still bears a grudge towards her.
  • Animal (noun)
    • Bears have thick fur, are mammals and are large.
  • have/show a certain mark/characteristic (verb)
    • He still bears the scar of the accident two years after it happened,
  • endure/tolerate
    • Please try to bear with the pain for a little while, it will be over very soon.



bit
(shannon)
    • Rather, a little
      • These pants are a bit too tight for me to wear.
    • A short time or distance
      • Wait a bit!
    • To bite (past tense of bite)
      • That stray dog bit me on the palm!


Black
(Yes, I know, the colour of the word does not match the word.)

[Neville]


  • (of coffee or tea) Without milk or cream.
    • I would like a black coffee please.
  • A colour
    • My shirt is black in colour
  • Marked by disasters or misfortune
    • We could never forget what happened on Black Friday
  • An African-American
    • Most of the Blacks live here.
  • To blackout; lose conciousness
    • At the sight of the gruesome scene, John blacked out immediately.
  • In comparision with white {idiom}
    • I want this report in black and white.

book

    • to book a place, reserve a place
      • Sam had booked a seat for us at the cinema.
    • a collection of pieces of paper
      • Ronald tore the book apart.

boot
    • a kind of shoe
      • The farmer was wearing boots.
    • to kick someone out
      • Shawn booted (past(verb)) Ryan out of the room because he was annoying Shawn.
    • the trunk of a car
      • Mr Tan put his groceries in the boot of his car before driving off.
    • to start up (Sheldon)
      • John booted up the computer to check his mailbox.

bottle
(Alicia)


    • to put a liquid into a bottle
      • This wine was bottled (past tense, verb) in Burgundy.
    • to not allow your self to show strong feelings
      • It is no good to bottle yourself up.
    • a glass or plastic container with a narrow top, used for keeping liquids in
      • She finished a whole bottle of milk.
bottle
(shannon)
    • A portable container for holding liquids, characteristically having a neck and mouth and made of glass or plastic. (noun)
      • Please put the cap back on the bottle.
      • We drank a whole bottle of wine.
    • To put or seal in a bottle (verb)
      • The wines are bottled after three years.
      • I prefer bottled drinks to canned drinks.
    • To drink alcohol excessively or habitually (noun)
      • After his wife died, he really hit the bottle.
    • To repress, control or restrain (verb)
      • He kept all of his anger bottled up inside him.
    • To enclose or entrap (verb)
      • Traffic was bottled up in the tunnel.----
bright
(Jarret)
  • a lot of light
    • The bright light almost blinded us, but luckily we looked away.
  • intelligent
    • He is the brightest kid in my class, as a result, he always gets first in our class
buffet
(Shivanand)
  • a meal made up of several dishes from which you serve yourself
    • I enjoyed th buffet dinnr last nght
  • to strike repeatedly
    • The wind buffeted the house


​C.

chair
(shannon)
    • a seat, esp. for one person, usually having four legs for support and a rest for the back and often having rests for the arms.
      • That old man, sleeping on the chair, is my grandfather
    • The position of being in charge of a meeting or community
      • She takes the chair in all our meetings.----

cover
(Geng Leong)
    • The cover of a book
      • The cover of this book was ripped off.
    • A bed cover
      • John wrapped the bed cover over himself.


coffee
(Wayne)

  • a drink
  • the coffee is so bitter without any sugar.
  • a colour
  • this coffee coloured chair goes well with the brown table.


crack

(Wayne)
  • a thin line on a surface that has broken but not yet come apart
  • This place is dangerous and there are many cracks in the ceiling.
  • a narrow space
  • The crack that the mouse made was starting to show.
  • a loud sound
  • The fireworks cracked as it shot up the sky.
  • Crack a joke

(Zhia Yang)
  • A program or file used to changea program
  • He downloaded a crack online but it turned out to be a virus.


cross
(Jarret)


  • An 'x'
    • We followed the treasure map to the cross which marked the location of the treasure
  • A plus sign
    • The Red Cross has a cross as its symbol
  • To feel angry at someone (shannon)
can

-An expression of capability
~She thinks she can't do it, but I know she can.

-A container used to hold things.
~It's about time we threw out all the aluminium cans in the house.


D.


duck
    • an animal
      • We had roasted duck for dinner that night.
    • to avoid something
      • During the game, my teammate did not manage to duck in time, and got hit by the 'water bomb'.

date
(Jarret)
    • a particular day on a calendar
      • The date today is 1st May, which means today is labour day
    • where two people come together and try to understand each other
      • This is my first time that I have gone on a date, and this went quite successfully.


ditch
(Jarret)
    • a narrow channel dug in the Earth
      • All the trash goes to the ditch, most of the time via the rubbish trucks.
    • to break up with your partner
      • When he ditched Ariel, she cried for days, suffering from depression
    • draw water
      • When we were thirsty, we would draw water from the well outside of our house and drink it.
    • attract
      • People had been drawn to the concerts of Elvis Prestley as he had been very popular.
    • Create an image
      • Dering Art class, Jason drew a vibrant image of a windmill.

E.

execute
(Zheng Xian)


  • To put someone to death (verb)
    • Tom is going to execute the serial killer tomorrow.
  • To put a plan to work (verb)
    • John's going to execute his plan later.

ease
(Mandy)
  • relieve (pain) (verb)
    • She put some ice cubes on the wound to ease the pain.
  • easily (noun)
    • He was able to complete his homework with ease as he had paid attention in class.

F.

file

    • A thin container for sheets of paper
      • She always brings her file to school as it contains all her homework.
    • A row
      • As the corridor was narrow, the teacher made us line up in a single file.

    • To file your nails; a nail file
      • She filed her nails with a nail file.
fire
(Zhia Yang)
    • to shoot a gun
      • Somebody fired a gun at me.
    • a flame
      • The fire that burned down the house was caused by him.
    • To sack someone
      • my boss just fired me today

fish
(Harish)
    • an animal
      • When I went scuba-diving, I saw a big, yellow fish.
    • to catch fish using a fishing rod
      • I went fishing today at the nearby pond.
(FYI, this is not counted)

flash
(Zhia Yang)
    • a form of animation
      • Our teacher taught us how to use flash today.
    • a flash of light
      • There was a flash of light and everything was gone.

    • a silly person
      • Don't be a fool, use your brains.
    • to trick or deceive

full
(Wei Yang)
    • Not hungry
      • I am full already, I cannot eat anymore
    • filled until the maximum
      • This tank is full of lemonade

G.

ground
(Sheldon)


    • floor
      • John felt the ground begin to shake as an earthquake began.
    • mash
      • He ground up the ingredients separately before mixing all of them together.
gross
(Who?)
    • He counted two grosses of eggs.


H.
horn
(Mandy)
  • horn of an animal (noun)
    • The water buffalo's horns on its head are curved.
  • instrument (noun)
    • The horn is a member of the brass family and as its name suggets, is made of brass.
  • the horn used in the car (noun)
    • The car in front did not move even though the road was clear, so he pressed the horn to alert the driver.



I.

invention

(Wayne)

  • a machine, tool, system etc that someone has invented
  • Computers were one of the most important invention in the twentith-century.
  • a fake story
  • The story was just media invention.


J.


jerk
(Jarret)
  • an involuntary action
    • He jerked when the car braked all of a sudden.
  • a foolish person
    • The guy who ditched you is a jerk, now move on with life.


(Zhi Rui)


      • black in colour
        • She had jet black hair.
      • A type of aircraft
        • He travelled often in expensive chartered jets.




K.


Kill
(Wei Yang)

  • kill time.
  • He watched television just to kill some time
  • to make someone die
    • I was the one who killed him


L.

leaves
(Shivanand)

  • plural form of leaf
    • I found many leaves in the playground
  • to leave (from a place)
    • He always leaves work early

light

      • a source of brightness
        • There is only one light in the room.
      • not heavy
        • The stack of papers was quite light.
      • the opposite of dark
        • He asked me to paint that section of paper light blue.

lie

      • To say something that is not true.
        • He has been lying ever since he was a little boy.

      • To position the body in a upright position/ to recline.
        • I think I shall have a little lie down.

      • To be decided by, dependent on, or up to
        • The choice lies with you.

lame
(Anushree)


-Limited or no use of a limb
~The old man's one leg is lame

-A joke that is not funny
~His jokes are almost always lame, though he thinks they are funny.



M.


mechanical
(Shivanand)

  • relating to machines or machinery
    • The mechanical engineer built that robot
  • relating to physical movements
    • He started to walk mechanically for no reason

monkey
      • animal
        • Look at that monkey swinging from tree to tree
      • fool (verb)
        • Stop monkeying around in the class and get down to work, Ronald!

multiple
(Sheldon)

      • many
        • In class, we are learning about multiple-meaning words.
      • a number that can be made by multiplying another number
        • 128 is a multiple of 32 because 32 times 4 is 128.

model
(Mandy)
  • replica of the actual thing (noun)
    • I have built a model of my house out of cardboard.
  • design/style (noun)
    • This car is our newest model, having just been released this year.
  • role model (noun)
    • Amy is the most productive and hardworking staff and is a good role model for all of us..
  • somebody who poses for an artist (noun)
    • She has been employed to be the model for his next piece of art.
  • fashion model modelling clothes (noun)
    • These models are modelling the season's newly designed clothes.

mix
(Jun Da)
  • to combine 2 or more substances together to form 1 substance
  • to mix around with other people as in to talk to others and try to socialise with them

mouse

(Jun Da)
  • the rodent that is very small and steals your food
  • the thing you use to control the arrow on the computer screen

N.

net
(Zhi Rui)


  • A material made up of criss-crossed stringlike material
    • He fished with a homemade fishing net.
  • A rectangular piece of material used to separate two sides of the game in sport
    • She hit the shuttlecock over the net.
  • To catch something using the material net
    • She netted dozens of fish that afternoon.
  • The Internet
    • She went on the Net to look something up.
  • To get something good or to earn a lot of money from something
    • She netted herself a fortune by selling the company.
  • If you net the ball during a ball game (eg. basketball, soccer, etc.) where the ball is shot to a net, you score a goal.
    • They had a dramatic victory when their star player netted the ball just before the end of the game.

O.


order
(Shivanand)
  • a situation in which everything is in its correct place
    • All the books were in order
  • a statement teling someone to do something
    • My brother ordered me to bring him his book
  • a reuest for somethng to be made, supplied or served
    • I ordered some fries and a burger


P.


picture
(Shannon)

  • a visual representation of a person, object, or scene, as a painting, drawing, photograph, etc
    • I carry a picture of my grandchild in my wallet
  • a person, thing, group, or scene regarded as resembling a work of pictorial art in beauty, fineness of appearance
    • She was a picture in her new blue dress.
  • the image or perfect likeness of someone else.
o He is the picture of his father.
  • To form a mental picture of, to imagine (verb)
o He could not picture himself doing such a thing
  • To present or create as a setting or to portray
His book pictured to world of the future


plot

      • a secret plan or scheme (noun)
        • Their plot to assinate the king was foilled.
        • They met to to plot a bank robbery.
      • a small piece oif land (noun)
        • That plot of farmland is very fertile.
      • The plan of a story (noun/verb)
        • That story is wonderful. It has a really interesting plot.
        • She does not know how to plot out her story.
      • To mark out a course
        • The ship captain will plot out the new course.

promote
(Mandy)
      • raise to a higher rank (verb)
        • The boss is very likely to promote him after the excellent job he had done on this project.
      • to initiate progress (noun)
        • The government is promoting the use of public transport.
      • promote a product to sell it (verb)
        • Every since the company started promoting its products, bussiness has improved tremendously.


      • a kick
        • Jack punted the football way into the opposing team's field, allowing his teammate to score a goal easily.


      • a boat
        • We went for a field trip on the river on a punt.


Q.


queen

(Wayne)
  • a female ruler of a country
  • Queen Elizabeth II was said to be the inventor of the gingerbread man.
  • a playing card with a letter Q on it.
  • I have got a full house of a pair of jacks and a triplet of queens
  • a chess piece
  • I checkmated you with a pawn and a queen.


R.
reserve
(Harish)


      • A place reserved for something(eg. Nature Reserve)
        • We visited the Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve
      • To book or reserve something
        • I reserved a table at Jack's Place Restaurant
      • A replacement just in case the actual person does not turn up (Sheldon)
        • The opposition's third speaker was sick and could not attend the debate, so the reserve had to take up the role instead.

refuse

(Wayne)
  • Do not accept
  • She had refused the offer.
  • Trash
  • Please pick up the refuse on the floor.

resume
(Jun Da)
  • To continue with something
  • Short account of something giving only the main points


S.


set



      • to position something
        • He set a vase of flowers on the dining table.
      • Where the action in a story, movie, etc. happens
        • This story is set in the 18th century.
      • To cause something or someone to be in the stated condition
        • I think she set the house on fire.
      • To cause someone or something to start doing something
        • His comments set me thinking.
      • To establish or cause to exist
        • She set eight new world records in the competition.
      • Ready and prepared
        • Ready, set, go!
      • To give work
        • The teacher set us a lot of homework.
      • A precious stone set into jewellery
        • She wore a brooch set with diamonds.
      • When a bone sets, it heals
        • Her broken arm set in te cast.
      • When a liquid or a soft material sets, it hardens.
        • The jelly set after spending a few hours in the fridge.
      • To give words or poems tune, so they can be sung to
        • The famous composer was paid to set the nursery rhymes to music.

sign (Zhia Yang)


      • a marking or label
        • The sign said that that area is out of bounds.
      • to write your signature
        • I signed the form with a blue pen.
stick
(Sheldon)



      • a twig or piece of wood
        • Those nasty boys used sticks to beat the poor little dog.
      • adhere to
        • I stuck my timetable firmly onto the wall so that it would not drop out.
      • pop out
        • Our teacher asked me to sit at the back of the class as my head stuck out at the front.


Speaker

(Megan)


      • Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
        • That speaker at the front has been talking for a long time already.
      • An electronic device used to amplify sound.
        • These speakers are very good for amplifying sound.
sound
(Jun Da)
  • sound condition which means that something is still in good condition
  • sound is the thing that you can hear
  • to sound something as in to make it produce a sound


saw
(Jun Da)
  • past tense of see
  • the razor sharp thing that you can use to cut wood

serve
(Anushree)

-To wait on someone
~His mother served him a bowlful of piping hot tomato soup for his tea.

-To say that someone deserves what he got
~It serves him right that he got caned.

-To hit a ball with a racket
~I see her practising her tennis serves every day now in hopes of getting into a team.


trip
(Zhia Yang)



        • a journey
          • I took a trip to Florida the previous week.
        • to fall over
          • I tripped over a rock in the ground.

time



        • To measure or record the speed, duration, or rate of
          • I will time you to see how long you take to run 100 meters.
        • A particular or definite point in time, as indicated by a clock
          • The time now is 3 p.m.


      • a twig or piece of wood
        • Those nasty boys used sticks to beat the poor little dog.
      • adhere to
        • I stuck my timetable firmly onto the wall so that it would not drop out.
      • pop out
        • Our teacher asked me to sit at the back of the class as my head stuck out at the front.

Trip
(Zhia Yang)
      • a journey
        • I took a trip to Florida the previous week.
      • to fall over
        • I tripped over a rock in the ground.

U.


utter
(Zhi Rui)

    • To speak
      • She uttered something under her breath.
Put before a word to emphasise it
  • This is utterly unacceptable!

under
[Neville]







V.

volume
(Zhi Rui)



      • A book or one of a series of books
        • She was picked up a dusty old volume and started reading it.
      • The amount of space occupied by something
        • The volume of the water in the container is 2 litres.
      • The loudness of a sound
        • She turned up the volume of the music.

W.

will

      • Something to do with the brain
        • He lacks the will to live.
      • Present tense of would
        • The problem is, will you?

    • Something one writes out to distribute his/her wealth after he/she dies.
      • They all awaited the reading of the will.
window
(Shannon)

  • an opening in the wall of a building, the side of a vehicle, etc., for the admission of air or light, or both, commonly fitted with a frame in which are set movable sashes containing panes of glass. (noun)
    • She looked out of the window contentedly
    • Do you mind if I open the window ?
  • a period of time regarded as highly favorable for initiating or completing something (noun)
    • Investors have a window of perhaps six months before the interest rate rises
  • a way of seeing and learning about something (noun)
    • Television is a sort of window on the world.
  • (informal) to stop existing, to disappear completely (noun)
    • As soon as the kids arrived, order went out of the window
wake
(Wei Yang)
    • boat wakes
      • the wakes of the boat are still visible
    • the time between a person's death and the funeral
    • wake up

wire
(Jun Da)
  • a wire is something you use to allow electricity to flow through a circuit to power something
  • to wire something together is to connect two or more wires together example in an electrical system

while
(Anushree)
-To pass time, usually lazily
~ She whiled away the first week of her holidays..
-The time that; during
~The whole time when I was away, he was misbehaving.


wait

(Anushree)

  • To stay somewhere without doing anything for a person to arrive or something to happen
    • She kept us waiting all afternoon
  • To serve somebody
    • That rich boy has a nanny to wait on him hand and foot.

X.


Y.


Z.


Zest
(Who?)
      • Peel of fruit used to make juice
        • Mummy ordered me to keep the orange zest after peeling the orange as she wanted to make orange juice later on.
      • enthusiasm
        • As this was his first time going to the Night Safari, he was filled with zest.